2 sailors assigned to USS Nimitz test positive for COVID-19

April 8 (UPI) -- The Navy is preparing to deploy the USS Nimitz this month despite the fact that at least twol sailors on the aircraft carrier have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

One tested positive after experiencing symptoms aboard the ship, and the second had tested positive but had not recently been aboard the ship, the Washington Post and Politico first reported.

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The reported cases on the Nimitz bring the number of aircraft carriers with outbreaks to four.

The news comes amid a political firestorm over the branch's handling over a large outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is currently docked in Guam to test and isolate sailors who have contracted the virus.

On Tuesday, the branch's acting secretary, Thomas B. Modly, resigned after he called the former captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt "stupid" for not realizing a letter he wrote about the outbreak was likely to become public.